Real Madrid issued a statement on Tuesday opposing La Liga's plans to move Barcelona's match at Villarreal to the U.S. in December, arguing the decision would compromise the competitive integrity of Spain's top flight.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) officially approved La Liga's pitch on Monday, which would see the match moved from Villarreal's Estadio de la Ceramica to Hard Rock Stadium in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens. The match still requires several additional rounds of approval from UEFA, FIFA, the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and Concacaf before getting the green light. There are also logistical concerns with the venue – the Villarreal-Barcelona match is currently scheduled for the weekend of Dec. 20-21, while Hard Rock Stadium will host an NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 21.
Real Madrid, though, argue that moving the game from Spain to the U.S. would wreck La Liga's competitive balance and create unfair advantages to the clubs who would take part in these showcase fixtures.
"The measure … infringes the essential principle of territorial reciprocity, which applies in two-legged league competitions (one match at home and the other at the home of the opposing team), upsetting the competitive balance and giving an undue sporting advantage to the applicant clubs," the statement read in part. "The integrity of the competition requires that all matches take place under the same conditions for all teams. Unilaterally modifying this regime breaks the equality between contenders, compromises the legitimacy of the results, and sets an unacceptable precedent that opens the door to exceptions based on non-sporting interests, clearly affecting sporting integrity and risking the adulteration of the competition. If this proposal were to be carried out, its consequences would be so serious that it would be a turning point in the world of football."
In addition to asking FIFA to block the proposal, Real Madrid requested that UEFA to "urge" the RFEF to withdraw their approval and called upon Spain's National Sports Council "not to grant the necessary administrative authorisation without such unanimous consent."
If La Liga succeeds in its plans, this would mark the first time a league staged a competitive match outside its home territory, which has long been a touchy subject. La Liga has wanted to hold a match in the U.S. since 2018, the rejection of which resulted in event promoter Relevent naming FIFA and the USSF as defendants in a lawsuit. The parties have since settled out of court, and though the terms of the deals are not public, it has seemingly paved the way for La Liga and other leagues to pursue their plans to stage competitive matches in other countries.
Real Madrid's feud with La Liga continues
La Liga does not need Real Madrid's permission to continue its push to stage the Villarreal-Barcelona match in the Miami area, so the club's Tuesday statement feels more like the latest chapter in their seemingly endless war or words with the league, one that centers La Liga president Javier Tebas and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
The pair have reportedly been at odds since Tebas' election in 2013 and his decision to restructure the league's broadcast payments, which meant La Liga's 18 other clubs would pocket more cash. Real Madrid and Barcelona previously pocketed a larger share of the broadcast revenue, the logic being that they drove most of the revenue in the first place.The greatest point of tension between Tebas and Perez, though, came with Real Madrid's advocacy for the controversial European Super League, a plan that has now cycled through multiple formats and still has Real Madrid's backing.
Tebas and Perez trade jabs on the regular, either doing so directly or through their respective organizations. Real Madrid TV, the club's internal media arm, has essentially become a platform to criticize both La Liga and the referees assigned to the league's matches. In recent months, the content includes criticism of the referees before April's Copa del Rey final and describing the upcoming season as "tainted" after a judge denied their request to delay their start to the season after their participation in the Club World Cup. For his part, Tebas has previously accused Real Madrid of "crying" and inspiring a "global conspiracy theory" about officiating.